Eindhoven Mayor Won’t Visit Minsk :: Charter'97 :: News

Alexander Sakkers, Mayor of the city of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) will not come to Belarus because human rights are violated in this country. The council of the city of Eindhoven decided so on Monday. The capital of Belarus, Minsk has a twinning relationship with Eindhoven since 1995. Mayor Sakkers’ visit had been planned in May, the Labour Party (PvdA) web resource informed the Charter’97.

The council of the city of Eindhoven has the opinion that a visit of the mayor is not a good idea because of the political situation in Belarus. There is a fear that the visit of the mayor at this time would be explained as support to the regime.

Local Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) chair Gaby van den Biggelaar cited the report of the UN Report on Human Rights in Belarus. This report concludes that the human rights situation in Belarus has worsened, and that current trade relations with Belarus are not a benefit to the people, but only strengthen the position of dictator Lukashenka.

Besides, Van den Biggelaar underlined the importance of differences the PvdA makes between contacts between authorities and the activities that take place within the framework of the twinning relationship between the cities.

According to the PvdA, the contacts between twin cities can contribute to improving the situation in Belarus. This improvement would be stimulated by contacts between the populations of both cities. These relations as such are not brought up for discussion.

The fact that the mayor will stay home must be interpreted as a sign of support to the people in Minsk in their desire for respect for human rights.